


Taking Chances

by Ceares



Category: NCIS
Genre: Character of Color, Fic Exchange, M/M, NCIS - Freeform, Season/Series 06, tony/gibbs - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-15
Updated: 2009-08-15
Packaged: 2017-10-18 04:07:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/184797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceares/pseuds/Ceares
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thank you Felicia for looking this over and especially <a href="http://oxoniensis.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://oxoniensis.livejournal.com/"><b>oxoniensis</b></a>who is an angel and took this on at the last minute.</p><p>written for the <a href="http://ncis-ficathon.livejournal.com/profile?mode=full">ncis ficathon</a></p><p>Warnings: General spoilers through season 6. Minor, none graphic mention of branding.<br/></p>
    </blockquote>





	Taking Chances

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thefannishwaldo](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=thefannishwaldo).



> Thank you Felicia for looking this over and especially [](http://oxoniensis.livejournal.com/profile)[**oxoniensis**](http://oxoniensis.livejournal.com/)who is an angel and took this on at the last minute.
> 
> written for the [ncis ficathon](http://ncis-ficathon.livejournal.com/profile?mode=full)
> 
> Warnings: General spoilers through season 6. Minor, none graphic mention of branding.  
> 

  
Some days, Gibbs thought one more meeting and he'd be back on the beach with Franks. He hated all meetings on general principle but he loathed the ones in the Director's office.

Vance nodded at him as he sat down, then at DiNozzo. "Go ahead, DiNozzo."

"They call themselves the Founding Fathers."

Gibbs watched as Tony flipped open the folder in front of him on the table. Gibbs and Vance had identical ones.

Vance flicked through the pages of his own. "Real original."

"Yeah, well these guys aren't big on anything new. And when I say new I mean, oh say the last two hundred and fifty years or so."

"So they decided to save the country by committing treason? That's kind of crazy."

DiNozzo flashed him a smile. “If sane was a criteria for this group, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Gibbs cocked a brow. "Why are we having this conversation again?" He was not happy that he was apparently the last one in the loop. His team collaborating with the Director without him never turned out well.

  
"Luke might be a little ethically challenged but he's not a traitor. He was actually wigged out about this. These guys are whack jobs, Boss with just enough power and influence to actually fuck things up big time before anybody realizes what's happening."

"And you're taking his word on this?"

"At first I was convinced that Luke was exaggerating. I thought they were some typical illuminati poseur group like the Skull and Bones or the C street guys and they would be if it wasn't for TJ. His name is David Rourke, but they go by aliases and of course he's Thomas Jefferson." Tony rolled his eyes. "I meet these guys and they're practically quoting the Secret at me--that's their big plan for world domination--a wish to make it so. Not TJ though. He's smart and effective. He could have these guys scrawling Helter Skelter on walls in no time."

He pulled up the photo of a man close to Gibbs age. Even in black and white there was an intensity and purpose in his features that Gibbs recognized. DiNozzo was right. This guy was dangerous.

"But he likes me." DiNozzo's smile had a bitter edge that had Gibbs tensing. "All I need is the membership fee."

Leon leaned back in his chair. "How much?"

Tony shrugged. "Information to start. That should be enough to prove my bona fides. To get in deep though I think I'm gonna have to give them a big fish." Tony grinned at Gibbs a moment, then flicked his eyes back to the Director. "I kind of hinted I might be able to give them you, Director Vance."

Gibbs closed the folder and pushed it away. "This isn't our jurisdiction."

Vance nodded. "True, but the FBI are willing to read us in on this, in the spirit of interdepartmental cooperation."

DiNozzo grinned. "Yeah, which means Luke trusts me. His uncle trusts him and these guys trust his uncle. Without me the Feds are back to digging through trash looking for something."

Gibbs snapped the folder closed. "No." He tried to ignore the way the smile fell off DiNozzo's face.

"I don't remember asking your permission, Jethro."

"Boss! I can do this."

He ignored Leon, focusing on DiNozzo who was absently kneading his shoulder. "I know you can. I just don't want you out there without back up."

"The Feds..."

Gibbs glared at Vance. "Are not his team."

Vance sighed. "Fornell is going to be heading up the operation. The director already guaranteed we'd be kept completely up to date on what was going."

Gibbs knew that was supposed to make him feel better, but he wasn't comfortable trusting his team to anybody else under the best circumstances and this was far from that. Besides, he had a suspicion that bastard Fornell had his eye on recruiting DiNozzo, which was _not_ going to happen.

  
%%%%%%%%%%

  
Gibbs made sure he got briefed every day either by Vance or Fornell when he could catch him, and always by DiNozzo as well. Normally, Gibbs knew DiNozzo would be enjoying himself-he had never seen anybody love undercover the way Tony did--but DiNozzo was playing 'DiNozzo', albeit with a twist of crazy and like Tony Dinardo, it was too close to home for him to relax. He was best when he was wearing someone else's skin.

It only made Gibbs worry about him more. He watched Tony carefully--more so than usual which was already more than he wanted to admit--and when he did the DiNozzo version of sneaky and hustled down to Abby's lab, Gibbs followed. He didn't feel any shame about eavesdropping. He believed in knowing everything about his team. It helped him protect them. Tony had the same instinct he was just less subtle about how he gained information and usually managed to tick off whoever he was keeping tabs on.

  
Tony had his shirt off, showing Abby something on his shoulder. Abby gave a shriek of dismay.

"You know what they say. It's all fun and games until someone gets branded."

"Tony! It's not funny.“ Abby smacked on the unmarked shoulder.”You gotta tell Gibbs."

"I'm fine Abby, or I will be as soon as you give me the low down, and don't tell me you don't know anything about it."

"Okay, but..."

"No buts. And Gibbs does not need to know about this."

"Gibbs knows everything, Tony."

That was his cue. "I damn well better." He walked into the room and finally got a close look at the lettering burned into Tony's upper arm. Two Fs crossing each other. "What the hell, DiNozzo!"

Tony shrugged. "Just taking one for the team, Boss."

"Tony!'

"Hush, Abbs." His expression turned stubborn in the face of Gibbs continued silence. "It's no more than you would do, Gibbs."

He couldn't say it was a lie, but that didn't make him any happier about it. He resisted the urge to reach out and run his fingers over the puckered and peeling skin.

"Does Fornell know about this?"

"Come on, Boss. You know how it is under cover. I'm the last person to stick up for Fornell, but cut him some slack. I wasn't exactly gonna call for back up over this." He shrugged his shirt back on, wincing slightly. "I gotta go. I'm debriefing Vance and then Fornell."

Gibbs nodded. "Make sure you take care of that, Tony." He watched Tony go, smothering the urge to go straight to Vance's office with him and demand he pull DiNozzo out. It would only make things worse in ten different ways.

Abby frowned at him. "Gibbs, you have to do something. He's just so _not_ Tony most of the time anymore." She sighed and leaned against him. He put a comforting arm around her shoulder. "I miss Tony."

He did too. "I know, Abbs."

  
%%%%%%%%%%

  
When Tobias's number came up on his caller ID at midnight, he stifled the wash of dread with anger. If anything had happened to Tony he was going to work his way through the Feds. He'd save Fornell for last."

"Yeah."

"We're at Bethesda."

Gibbs froze. "Tobias."

"He got shot, Jethro."

Fornell met him at the entrance to the ER. "He's still in surgery." He handed Gibbs a cup of coffee. "Rourke was supposed to be gone. DiNozzo was searching the house for Rourke's stash. We're not sure what happened but he took a bullet. Shoulder. He was conscious the whole time. We got them, what DiNozzo got us, plus attempted murder of a federal agent. It's enough to shut the whole group down."

Gibbs listened but he didn't really hear Fornell's explanation. His attention was focused on the wide double doors down the hall. He barely glanced up when McGee hurried in.

"Boss, is Tony..."

"He's still in surgery."

McGee slumped down beside him. "I'd better call Abby. She's freaking out, especially since she's so far away. I told her it didn't make sense to try and fly in tonight, but she made me promise to call her every five minutes."

Fornell put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Jethro. We did everything by the book. The intel was DiNozzo's and it checked out, but..."

"Not your fault." And logically he knew that, no matter how much he wanted to rip Fornell's head off. "It's the nature of the job, and Tony..."

"Jumps in with both feet."

He nodded. "Yeah."

They moved to the post surgical waiting room and it was another hour before the doctor came out.

"Mr. DiNozzo was very lucky. The bullet didn't hit anything vital. It was more a matter of cleaning up the wound than anything." The doctor gave them a weary smile. "He came through surgery fine. He was already sporting a minor infection from the brand, but the antibiotics will take care of that. The bite looks clean but we gave him rabies shots just to be safe."

McGee frowned, looking confused. "Bite?"

"Mr. DiNozzo said a ferret bit him."

McGee laughed. "Only Tony!" Gibbs could hear the relief in his voice as well as the hint of glee. No doubt he was already thinking of ferret jokes.

  
%%%%%%%%%%

  
Vance called him to the office the next morning. "How's he doing?"

"He's going to be okay."

Vance nodded. "Good. DiNozzo did a good job."

Gibbs swallowed down a shaft of anger. "Despite what you think, Leon, he's a damn good agent."

Vance swirled the toothpick in his mouth, raising his brows at Gibbs vehement tone. "Oh I know that. It's not his skills that are in doubt, it's his loyalty."

"What are you talking about? Anthony DiNozzo is absolutely loyal to this agency."

Vance shook his head. "No, he's absolutely loyal to his team, and most of all, to you. It's not the same thing." Vance sighed. "He'd do anything to please you and impress you, Gibbs and that's the problem. In the last three months since we got back from Israel he's been more and more frantic to prove to you that you made the right choice. That's made him reckless and it's affecting my agency."

It wasn't like he didn't know that. He also knew DiNozzo would adjust after a while. Plus a part of him still believed Ziva would come back to them. Now though, it looked like Vance was trying to force his hand. "So this was some kind of test?"

Vance nodded. "Of course, Jethro. Everything is."

Gibbs grit his teeth. "Did we pass?"

"I don't know yet."

"What are you saying here, Leon?"

"I'm saying do what you have to do, but put your boy in check."

"Or?"

"He's already turned down a promotion and his own team to stay with you. It won't happen again."

"You can't force him to take a promotion."

Vance leaned forward, dropping the relaxed pose. "I can if the other option is leaving the agency. Not that another agency wouldn't snap him up, but he doesn't want that. The LA team has been sending out feelers. He's got a reputation for being good at undercover. He'd take the LA gig like he did the Agent Abroad one, hoping to get back here sooner rather than later." He shook his head, the look he gave Gibbs almost pitying. " A wild dog, no matter how loyal, is still a threat to the pack."

Gibbs sat and watched Tony sleep. He listened to the reassuring beep from his heart monitor. Gibbs had been in love three times in his life and two of them he got to visit at the cemetery now. Anytime could make it a three. Los Angeles was almost a custom fit for Tony. Sun, beautiful people and the undercover work he loved so much. The team they had was good, and it wasn't that he didn't trust them to look out for Tony. The truth was Gibbs didn't know if he had the strength to let him go, even if that was what Tony wanted.

He had been captured from the minute Tony flashed that grin, bright and joyous but with a flash of something--hunger, need--that called to Gibbs. Both he and Tony enjoyed the push and pull, but he'd used rule number twelve as a shield anytime things shifted into high gear. He figured in a couple of years, Tony would move on like the rest of the guys he trained but Tony stayed. Then he'd been caught in the explosion and everything was too raw. His love for Shannon as well as the loss. He'd picked the safe route--he knew he'd never feel more for Hollis than affection.

Tony had Jeanne and even though that fell apart spectacularly, Gibbs could still convince himself that it was better for Tony to find some pretty young woman and settle down. Get a chance to have the family he so clearly wanted. But he'd watched over the past two years while Tony had a slow melt down and the six months as an Agent Abroad hadn't slowed the process. This mess with Ziva just compounded things. He didn't know if he was ready to move forward but they couldn't go back. Vance was right. Something had to give, and he was damned if it would be Tony.

  
%%%%%%%%%%

  
He picked Tony up from the hospital, ignored the wary glances coming from the passenger seat, and waited for some comment as he headed towards his house rather than Tony's. Instead all he got were increasingly anxious looks, until he finally pulled over into the nearest parking lot and shut off the motor. "Speak, DiNozzo."

"I'm waiting for the inevitable lecture."

He sighed. "I'm not going to lecture you."

Tony winced. "Before you hit me, Boss, I just want to remind you that I'm a wounded man."

"I'm not going to hit you either."

Something sharp and bitter crossed Tony's face. "That's right. I don't even rate a head slap, now do I? You just take my fucking up as a given."

Gibbs frowned. "Do you really think you'd still be on my team--my senior agent--if I didn't believe you were the best at the job you do?"

"Just not as good as..."

"Tony, shut up." Tony clamped his mouth closed and made a zip motion across his lips. " Ziva is irreplaceable."

Tony looked up at him eyes wide and vulnerable for a brief moment before he shuttered his expression.

Gibbs swallowed hard before moving on. "So was Kate. So is Abby and McGee and Ducky and even Palmer."

"I know that, Boss."

"So are you, Tony"

Tony grinned but it didn't reach his eyes and Gibbs knew he didn't believe him.

"None of you is replaceable, and none of you are interchangeable."

"So you're saying what, you wouldn't trade a scrappy ex-cop who can take down a trained Mossad officer all by himself, provided of course he's already soused to the gills, for Ziva's mad ninja skills?"

"I didn't."

Tony shrugged. "Spur of the moment, plus anybody in their right mind knows you don't like ultimatums, Gibbs. I'm sure if you..."

"Shut up, Tony." Gibbs gave in and did the one thing he'd been trying to avoid. He grabbed Tony and kissed him, shutting him up finally in the way he'd been fantasizing about for eight years.

Tony looked at him, eyes shining when he pulled back, happy for the first time in six months, longer, maybe since before Jenny died, since that mess with Jeanne. "Yes Boss, thank you, Boss."

  
%%%%%%%%%%

They were stretched out in Gibb's bed. He'd resisted anything more than some light kissing because Tony was going to need to be in prime health to deal with his plans for him, but Tony had still insisted he wasn't sleeping alone anymore and Gibbs was pretty much in the mood to indulge him.

He leaned over and placed a soft kiss on Tony's marked shoulder. His lips slid from the bandage to the brand.

"Abby says I can probably cover it pretty cleanly with a tattoo."

"I supposed it'd be useless to ask you not to do this again."

"About the same result as me asking you." Tony cupped his face, pulling him down for a kiss. "But I promise you I'm in no hurry to be anywhere but here."

Gibbs wrapped his arms around him, and closed his eyes, sending up a prayer of thanks and suppliance to whoever was listening.

  



End file.
